Letters to the editor, 12/23

High-stakes testing is pointless, hurts kids

The new teacher evaluation system had middle and high school students greeted this school year with between five and 10 tests to take. Students cannot understand why they have to take tests on topics they have not learned yet and were left feeling great anxiety. Some students had emotional breakdowns over the testing culture. Is this what we want to be doing to our children? How can teachers inspire and motivate students to want to learn if they are constantly feeling inadequate by an abundance of high-stakes testing?

Before we lose more good teachers and destroy any inspiration left in children, we as community members need to work with lawmakers and the state education department to support learning initiatives that empower children. We need to show support for areas such as music, the arts, family and consumer sciences, physical education etc., as these are the areas in school that bring the academics to life for students. Through these courses students learn life skills, interpersonal skills, communication and leadership. Those are the ideals we should structure our schools around; not numbers derived from disenfranchising high-stakes testing.

These programs are highly rigorous, culturally relevant, and the prescription our schools need in order to revive from what is plaguing schools today. The only way for the system with change is when community members show a united front to support our community schools and support legislation to support what matters most, the students. You have a voice. Let it be heard!

Ryan Judge

Poughkeepsie

Abortion, Conn. killings terrible loss of innocents

As the nation mourns the terrible loss of the little innocents killed in Connecticut, let us also remember with remorse the millions of small souls who are lost in legalized abortion. Every life is sacred. Pope Benedict XVI said it so true: "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary." God is love. When we love another, we see the face of God.

Lola Schurman

Poughkeepsie

Congress is to blame for struggling economy

Henry Ford recognized that paying his workers a good wage allowed them to afford to buy the cars they produced. Today, we take good jobs away from Americans and ship them overseas to be made by poorly paid people that cannot buy the products they produce.

Then our jobless must take lower-paying jobs to buy these foreign-made products.

For these purchases, our workers must raid their savings accounts and/or borrow to keep this economic system churning.

Studies have shown that in the new millennium, we are transferring wealth up the economic scale - potentially destroying our entire capitalistic economy.

The recent economic collapse was the expected outcome whether or not we had an economic malfeasance in a financial sector resisting economic oversight and governance.

To return to a vibrant economy, we must shift the wealth back to its previous stable state.

Unfortunately, every proposal being made by Congress is setting us on a course of near-term disaster.

Continuing to allow the wealthy to accumulate wealth through low taxes and low estate taxes, we undo the wisdom of the Teddy Roosevelt administration. We gave the economic industry entitlements to rescue it. Will we give those in our country who are economically challenged the same consideration?

Lower-income people have to give up their constitutional right to the pursuit of freedom and happiness and will eventually default on their debts and destabilize the economy for all. For sane financial responsibility, Congress must consider the consequences of their actions for all.

Irvin Miller

Poughkeepsie

Gun proliferation puts all Americans in danger

More guns does not make public places safer. Other nations mandate fewer guns and less gun violence while being comfortably safe. Bluntly stated, access to multiple automatic weapons allowed an American to murder 20 kids at a school.

Automatic weapons are illogical for home defense or hunting. Shotguns are good home defense weapons. They shoot loudly, require little aim, pellets do not penetrate walls killing innocents and intruders leave upon hearing a pump slide reload. Long rifles are for hunting. Growing up in Tennessee, if you needed multiple shots to kill deer, you were a poor hunter. Hunters with bad aim were not trusted with automatics.

Handguns with large magazines and automatic weapons are designed to kill people. Americans carrying in public must be law enforcement or have equivalent training to know when, why and how to "pull their gun."

Open carry permits do not mandate this understanding. Also, cops dislike armed public vigilantes.

Responding officers are uncertain if an armed person is a criminal. If a town feels less safe, hire and train more police.

The Wild West was too dangerous. Too many people were killing innocents.

The Second Amendment was written when America had single-shot rifles.

A "well regulated militia" meant citizens owning rifles were trained and fought as a volunteer army when the government called.

The gun industry and NRA mistakenly promote gun ownership as an absolute right without limitations. They ignore untrained Americans killing each other through under-regulated automatic weapons proliferation.

Jeff Akins

Highland

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Letters to the editor, 12/23

The new teacher evaluation system had middle and high school students greeted this school year with between five and 10 tests to take.